HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — We have the first reported victim (?) of the amnesty clause of the new collective bargaining agreement.

The Spurs have decided to use it on swingman Richard Jefferson and the three years and $30 million remaining on his contract, per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. This means teams with cap space will have a chance to bid on Jefferson before he would become a free agent.

This also means the Spurs will need a starting small forward and will have to enter the free agent market to find one. Rookie Kawhi Leonard will surely have an opportunity to compete for the job. But if the Spurs have their designs on a championship, they’ll need a veteran (like Caron Butler or Josh Howard) to man the position in this abbreviated season.

The move to amnesty Jefferson will put the Spurs under the luxury tax threshold and allow them to use the entire mid-level exception to attract Jefferson’s replacement.

Speaking of Butler, Caron will still take his visit to New Jersey this evening, despite being very impressed by the San Antonio Spurs during his visit there Monday and Tuesday, and despite the Spurs now being able to offer Butler a full mid-level.

Butler is planning to make a decision in the next day about where he wants to play, according to a source, with the Spurs and Bulls at the top of his list. He visited Chicago on Monday, meeting with team president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman. Butler has committed to playing two guard if he signs with the Bulls, which would allow Chicago to keep Luol Deng at small forward. Butler would remain a small forward with the Spurs, Nets or Clippers, the other teams he has visited or is visiting. But Butler also hit it off with Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich.

The Clippers and Nets can offer more than the mid-level exception. New Jersey would likely slide Butler into the $7 million slot it is currently paying forward Travis Outlaw, a prime amnesty candidate himself. The Clippers are under the cap and could give Butler a big deal, but Los Angeles is hip-deep in the Chris Paul trade talks at the moment, along with trying to get restricted free agent center DeAndre Jordan signed to a long-term deal. In addition, a source said that the Clippers prefer free agent forward Tayshaun Price over Butler.

It seems like up till now the only names involved with the Knicks have been CP3, Superman, and Grant Hill. Now it seems like Tyson Chandler is going to end up in the Big Apple. Although, he’s not a superstar like Cp3 or Dwight Howard he is the key to the Knicks’ success. Let’s examine why they are the match made in heaven.

RC Buford doesn’t make very many dumb moves, but signing Jefferson to the contract he did was definitely one of them. There wasn’t another team on the market that was going to give Jefferson, who’s been on the decline, that much.

Butler equals offense with ok defense. Prince equals defense with ok offense. Josh Howard is a big questionmark since his injury but still a talented player. I think that LA’s thinking is screwy myself. They have Dorell Wright who has been improving in both categories, but in reality LA needs a scorer to take the load off of Gordon and Griffin. Butler is the better fit there. Now Prince would be a great fit in San Antonio as a long lanky replacement for Bruce Bowen who can block shots and occasionally hit the 3. Richard Jefferson was a fancy name that is the opposite of Bowen in every sense of the word and given the Amnesty they regret everything about that trade. Square peg in a round hole anyone???

Someone mentioned Al Jefferson. I actually kind of like that idea if the numbers can work. Al has never had a mature winning mentor like Duncan. Al has skills. If Duncan can hone those skills in for Al Jefferson and turn him into a mature player then the spurs would be able to transition out of the Duncan era a lot easier once Duncan decides to give it up.

I agree, Caron is not going to bring a defensive presence to SA, but what he will bring is some tenacity, something RJ never has had or will have. Yes, Battier and Howard are better defenders; Butler, however, brings the Jackson factor (as in Stephen, another lousy defender who just so happened to help the Spurs win it all in ’03).

i really want to see butler in a spurs uniform but another key position they need is the center spot yes the spurs have tiago but we really dont know how good he will be another guy i think needs to go is dejuan blair someone who is asked to loose weight then to gain it all back and is out of shape tellls me that he does not want to play so i feel he needs to be traded for a true big man someone like tyson chandler who can play d rebound and is very athletic

deffinitly get Tayshaun Price caron is always to hurt we dont need no more scorers we need more defence tayshaun can play two guard and small foward and play defence caron is always hurt great scorer but some what of a ball hogg I say tayshaun prince he fits in san antonios game perfect

Butler or Battier would be a great fit in San Antonio. I’d also like to see them make a move to trade for Al Jefferson. Utah has alot of “bigs” and could be willing to part with him. Bringing in a young center like Al Jefferson would be a solid move for the present and future. He could learn from Duncan as Duncan did from Robinson and his low post presence offensively and defensively would be a huge help with trying to compete in the west.